The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for playing a duplicate card game namely blackjack or poker.
There exits in the prior art a number of methods and apparatus for playing card games. The focus of the prior art has been a card game in which the players play against the dealer representing the House or where the players play against themselves. In the case of blackjack, the players play against a dealer. Each player plays an individual hand dealt from a central group of cards. The group of cards may contain one or more fifty-two playing card decks. A problem in prior art methods and apparatuses for playing blackjack is measuring the relative skill of an individual card player against the skill of the other players.
In the case of poker, the players play against themselves. Before and during each hand, money or chips are placed in a pool and awarded to the winner(s) of that hand. Cards are dealt from a central card group. Each player plays a unique set of cards during the hand. A problem with the prior art method of playing cards is, again, that the skill of an individual player is difficult to measure due to each player playing different sets of cards.
In the prior art it is well known to use a common deck of cards. This common deck of cards is used to deal initial hands and additional cards to players who remain in the game and desire to have additional cards allocated to their playing hand. The problem with prior art use of a common deck of cards is the difficultly in determining the relative skill of one player versus another player due to the varying differences in each players hand as it is dealt from a common deck.